Friendship Is The First Step
by Darkwings of Faith
Summary: Yugi and Anzu have been friends since childhood, but lately it's becoming unsteady between both of them. There's nothing wrong with their friendship, friendship is the problem. YugiAnzu read and review!
1. How it all began

**Author's Notes**: Uhhh… I think I was bored so I did this. I'll continue this story I guess, I know Yugi and Tea had been friends since childhood but does anybody knows how they met? Well I'm making up on how they met ^_^ and how some parts of it would sort of show again later in the chapters later… or not. Also I know that Yugi lives with his mom and grandfather but I'm gonna change it; he only has his grandfather as a living relative. Please read and review! 

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Yu-gi-oh and I never will, WHAAAAAAAA!

Summary: 

            Anzu and Yugi have been friends for a long time since Childhood. But lately it's becoming unsteady between both of them. No, there's nothing wrong with their friendship. Friendship is the problem.  

Friendship Is The First Step 

"Daddy?"

"Hmm…?"

"Where are we going?"

            Anzu's father looked at the front view mirror looking at his daughter. The little five-year old was giddily jumping on her seat kicking her legs as she continued on. Her father chuckled at little Anzu's impatience from the two-hour drive. 

"We're going to see mommy at the hospital, don't you want to see mommy again," her father said looking at the front as he drove. 

"Yay! I wanna see mommy again! I wanna tell her that I'm going to kindergarten now!" Little Anzu said happily seeing her mom again. 

            Her father smiled at Anzu's innocence. He knew very well why her mother was at the hospital for three years missing out in Anzu's early years. He looked at the seat next to him, a small bouquet of roses he bought a while ago laid there. After the shooting that happened in the bank, which her mother was in occurred, he was left to take care of the baby girl. So far there was no news yet from the hospital about her mother's recovery. Instead ever since he last visited, there was a problem occurring in his wife's health, unfortunately she was in a coma and poor Anzu thinking she was just asleep hoped that her mother would wake up. He turned his eyes to look at the front view mirror for a quick second seeing that Anzu was tired leaning on the side of the car window beginning to drowse.  

                                                                                                ~*~

            "We're here Anzu! This is where mommy is," Her father said. Anzu's vibrant indigo eyes stared at the huge building. 

"Well lets go Anzu," her father took her tiny hand and walked into the hospital. 

Her father grabbed her in his arms so that they would go up on the escalator Anzu grabbed her father's chest, while they were going up slowly. She was almost scared, terrified... had she never seen such a crowded place… everything looked so new to her meek little eyes…

            Anzu looked at those many people walking back and forth, and remained frightened and astonished. Some people lying on stretchers and others wearing what she would consider masks or covers for their faces wearing strange green clothes and others in white. She was reassured only when she felt her father's touch over her back. She turned and stared at her father. He was smiling sweetly, and she returned her smile despite of the bewilderment and perplexity of this hospital.           

They finally arrived at the top of the escalator, and her father descended it, doing a step forward. He placed Anzu on the ground, She was standing on her feet, her little thin and short legs, typical of her age. Then her father took her by the hand, amid the curious looks of the others who were there. 

            Her father finally took her to a corridor of the left, they reached to an office where Anzu saw a woman dressed in white sitting arranging papers and typing on the computer. Anzu looked around the hallway searching for her mother.

            "Daddy where's mommy?" Her father bended down to face his daughter.

"Anzu I need you to sit there for a while. I need to go to the nice lady so we can see mommy, ok honey?"   

            "Ok daddy," Anzu nodded and went to sit in the waiting room. She stared at the clock watching the second hand move to the quarter of two. Anxiously swayed her legs back and forth as she sat down on her cold steel seat. She held the bouquet of sakuras; it was her mother's favorite flower besides nadeshikos. 

~*~

            _"Mommy… daddy… where are you?" _

_Everywhere it was dark and dim, he barely could even see his hands right in front of him he ran. He felt nothing but pain banging internally inside him. He fell to his knees clutching to his chest… _

_"Mommy…daddy…where are you? I can't see you."_

_Then abruptly he saw a bright light flashing toward him. He cringed and used his arm to cover his face from the alluring brightness, as he removed his arms from his face, he could see his mother and father before him._

_            "Mommy? Daddy?"_

_Using his strength, the young boy got up and ran, reaching with his arm out as if to forestall as the images of his parents began to fade away._

_            "Mommy! Daddy! Don't leave me!"_

_He stood there as he found himself looking at somewhat of a reflection of himself. Then suddenly his hands were covered with red fluid…blood. He stood there in shock staring at the blood, which had lain upon on his hands. His violet eyes which had seem to be screaming with fear as the hands seem to be holding more blood then before, he looked up and at his reflection laid the visions which had ended in a blood curling screams…         _

            "Ahhhhhhh!" He bolted straight out from his sleep. His breathing heavily, he could feel a bit of sweat coming down from his forehead. His dream terrified him as it continuously played over and over again. He looked around noticing the room was of those in the hospital. He looked down at his arms, which were attached with those that were of the heart monitor. The young boy looked around the room as he felt more and more the urge to panic and scream, as he did not know his reasons for being here. 

Flashes of memories reoccurred; he could still feel the pain of the sharp broken glass breaking his flesh, the screams of his mother. He could still remember the violent movement when the car crashed the explosion, it wasn't suppose to happen… no it wasn't suppose to. Not to him, not for any child to bear the pain and the feeling… he could still remember as the memory played repeatedly in his head. He remember clearly as if it had only occurred right at the moment, he remembered as he was picked up by a man as they finally got him and his parents out of the car. They laid him on a stretcher placing an oxygen mask on him as they got him in to the ambulance, he remembered clearly seeing his parents bodies, dismantled and demolished, there was no way that it could be helped. The doctors, the nurses or any other people could lie to him all they want but he knew better, that he had lost the only family he had knew…

                                                                                                ~*~

            "Mr. Masaki?" a man in a white coat said as he came from the corridor near the waiting room. 

            "Yes?" he got up from the chair and went to the doctor. He shook hands with the doctor as a greeting.

            "I'm Dr. Ayuma, I work with patients rehabitating, your wife is one of my patients and she is so far recovering remarkably."

            "What do you mean? Isn't she still in her coma?" 

            "Didn't they tell you? Your wife has recovered from her coma, we thought she wouldn't ever wake up, though she still is in need to go through rehab to just make sure anything from her injuries didn't effect her functions," The doctor said smiling seeing the man with a face filled with disbelief and shock, but it was in a merriment kind of way.  

            "You mean she's finally awoken from her coma? Oh thank you doctor, can we go see her if it isn't a problem?"

            "You may go see her, she probably wants to see how grown her daughter is," the doctor said leading him to the room is wife was in.

            "Anzu, let's go see mommy now," her father said as he picked up the little girl.

"Ok," Anzu said tiredly rubbing her eyes.

                                                                                                ~*~

            "Hi mommy!" Anzu ran to jump into her mother's arms. It had been a long time since she visited her mother. But she never forgot, sometimes her dad would place photos of her mother around the house.

"My sweet Anzu I missed you so much," her mother said softly, she was in a brink of tears that was filled with happiness in every drop.

"Mommy, daddy told me to give you this," Anzu took out the little bouquet and gave it to her mother, "Its your favorite."

"Sakuras, thank you Anzu," her mother said as she gave a small kiss on her daughter's forehead.

Her father smiled looking at them reunite after her mother's years in her coma, "Anzu, me and your mother have to talk to the doctor ok so go follow the nice nurse, she's going to take you to the children's playroom."

"Ok, bye mommy," Anzu said meekly as she took the nurse's hand and followed her.

                                                                                                ~*~

Anzu was completely bored; she stood there on the floor playing with some blocks idly. There was absolutely nothing to do in the playroom. She looked outside of the doorway, there were so many rooms, so many places she could just explore in instead of being stuck in such a dull playroom. It wasn't her fault for her high curiosity; she was just a kid who has yet begun to see the whole world. She stood there thinking of her fathers order but the urge to explore around this hospital was driving her intensely. 

Despite of what her father instructed she scamper out of the play room and looked around the hospital. As she strolled she found herself faced to a door, not just any door, as it was only half opened. She suddenly felt an indescribable attraction towards it. She looked around looking for any signs of anybody coming and looked back at the door. She gave a cheeky smile and entered through the door. She ran happily through the area not caring where she went, there was absolutely nobody there to stop her. 

She slowed down as she came to a dead end. She turned to her side; there was a small stairway that ascended up. For once she saw regular stairs instead of elevators around the hospital. Slowly she walked up the stairs, her small hands holding on to the rails for fear of falling. Children her age would probably enjoy being up so high in buildings and places, however it was her weakness. Going up the steps, one by one, after she went up one last step without any second her attention drew to a wide nearby opened door. After she went passed that door, she found herself again in an another desolate corridor.

"This is too boring," Anzu said with a 'bored to death' expression on her face. Like how children her age are, they wouldn't really pay any attention at the trifle differences when it comes to comparing places. In a way it was completely different from the other one.

Anzu looked back at the wide opened door she passed behind her and looked slowly back to what was in front of her. She suddenly felt a painful feeling that swathe her all over. She stood there thinking why she felt this way until it finally popped in her mind. 

She decided then to go forward some more; she was already far away, too far away from the children's playroom to go back. And if she did tried to go back, she didn't see much of the surroundings to help her find her way back so she mind as well continue till it ends. She silently longed for her father to be with her now…

Ahead in the distance was another door, direct to who knows where it would lead. She could've just tried to stop from there but her curiosity was too much for her to ignore. The silence of the room and the loneliness oppressing didn't lead her on to run away; instead she wanted to continue. Such things wouldn't lead a child to run back, yes it would make a child scared and frightened but it would just stop from there and there only.  

She took another step forward. Where she was going she did not know. She only knew of such small things: 1) she was lost and 2) she was scared. She felt she was going to burst into tears. Why didn't she stay with where her daddy told her to remain? So of course she was bored but at least she knew that her daddy would pick her up later but now he wouldn't even know where she would be now. She wished someone would be there now.

Unexpectedly as if it was a response to her wish, as if in a fairy tale, someone was there. There wasn't exactly someone, but more of a faint sound coming from somewhere she did not know where. It was so faint, no one would be able to here it however it was able to pierce through the walls of silence to her alone. 

It didn't sound beautiful like as if a song, nor was it a noise… but it seemed sad in a way. She couldn't really classify what the sound was but Anzu wasn't going to stay there and just think. 

She ran further into the corridor, deeper and deeper. Through each step she made, the sound began to become clearer and clearer but still faint in a way. She slid herself to stop as the corridor ended and from her hearing continued to run in the hallway on her left. She stopped as she found herself in a problem. There were doors on each side of the hallway, which one was the noise from? She found herself thinking. What would be the use to finding where the noise was coming from if you can't even find it, but she had came so far…

Anzu stared with her bright cerulean eyes the door in front of her. She pressed her ears to the door to see if that was where the noise came from. Yes! She could here the sound, it was muffled but she could tell that then she had found the source of the sound.  But it was a sound that felt so excruciating and painful for her as she now realised the sound was a weeping. Who was crying? She had to know who the sound came from. She looked up, the handle was pretty high, the doors she passed before weren't very well closed. She jumped and grabbed the handle of the door and turned the knob to enter in. But why did she wanted to find out so much? She didn't know why, something was pushing her to go in. Was it a childish curiousity which takes children to move further in a problem? Was it her deep wish for an adventure? Or maybe… is it a sign of destiny? Of fate? Who knows but god but she just had to go in. Whether or not if there was a purpose to it she needed to go in, the urge was suppressing her madly.   

She managed to open the door quietly so that whoever was crying wouldn't really notice she was even there. She looked around as she entered. The hospital room was dim; maybe someone was sleeping? No, if the person was sleeping then why would there be a crying… maybe in a sleep? Anzu looked up; there was a white hospital screen like those for surgeries or for someone, a patient like her mother. 

It was quiet but at the same time it wasn't for she could hear a rhythmic beeping sound behind the screen, that beeping noise like how a heartbeat would sound, a sound that she was afraid of listening whenever she visited her mother while she was in a coma. That noise, if it had ever stopped, than the person who the heart belongs to would surely stop as well just like how her father explained to her to make her understand in such a naïve age. What did her father called it? Oh it was heart something, the last word was hard for child like her to remember, but it sounded like it started with an M and that was all she could remember.

She wanted to know who was weeping behind the white screen. But who could be weeping? Could it be a monster or a ghost? Could it be like those creatures in the fairy tale books her father would read to her every night before she would go to sleep? She was still in front of the screen too afraid to move further. Staying there wouldn't help her to figure out who or what was behind. She swallowed nervously and took a peek behind screen. 

Plainly is exactly how she would describe it. There was a plain white bed, like the others that she saw in those vacant hospital rooms she saw when she was with her father. But what she was really concentrating is the one lying in it. Slowly she walked up to the side of the bed. A blanket was covering the lying figure however she could see something that seemed interesting lying on the pillow. She could see flares of black hair with red on the tips. She found it interesting and yet at the same time it was strange. She walked further to the bed until she was able to touch the bed and see a closer look. Someone hidden underneath the sheets was the source of the lament and weeping sound. With a bit of courage, she took the sheet covering the form and tug it off to see who was the one crying. 

Anzu dropped the sheet to the ground as her sapphire eyes were met with eyes of the color of amethyst. She stared; it was just a child like herself. Maybe just around her age. However it was just any child, it was a boy. The girls in her school would tease her time to time about her being friends with mostly boys than girls saying that they have cooties. She recollected that her father told her to ignore it and that she had every right to be friends with whoever she please.   

The young boy sat up on the hospital bed staring back at the girl who seemed to be around the same naïve age as he. He was dressed in a white gown just like everyone who was a patient like him would wear. The style of his hair, however, made him stand out from everyone. His hair had the color of red, black, and yellow. Tri-color was what Anzu would describe of his hair.

He felt scared seeing someone in the same room as he. She didn't look anything dangerous but the feeling of someone who just seemed to appear out of nowhere feared him. With his tiny hands he wiped the rest of the remaining tears, which blurred his vision, on his face and his eyes to see the girl more better. He could see that she had short brunette hair and eyes that seemed to shimmer so brightly. But why was she there? What was her reason for being here with him? He didn't even know who is she. He felt so scared but at the same time seeing her there made him in comfort. He began to move back across the bed.

"Please don't," Anzu spoke softly, she couldn't blame him for being afraid. She would've been scared too as well if some stranger just appeared in front of you.

"W-what?" He spoke. He stop moving back from her. He seldom talk, in his school he was left by himself most of the time. He didn't try to make couple of friends in his school mostly because he was afraid.

"Don't be afraid of me, I didn't mean to make you frighten," she answered. She noticed that there were wires tied to him to a heart monitor. She could see some gashes on him, dried from bleeding. He still had gashes, which were worser though it was covered with white bandages… he was in an accident.

"Are you ok?" Anzu spontaneously climbed up on the bed so she could see him more closely. She wasn't too surprised that he had injuries everywhere on him. She gently placed her hand on the wound on his arm, she noticed that on his right cheek there was a wide sharp cut, "Did it hurt really bad?"

He looked at her wide; this girl was being very forward to talking to him. But he wasn't complaining, something about her made him calmed and reassured that everything would be alright, "Yes. What are you doing here in this hospital?"

"My mom is in what daddy called a coma so I'm visiting her since the doctor said that she is alright," she said to him. She felt that she made a terrible mistake as she soon saw in his face that grief was written all over. 

"My mommy and daddy died in the accident, the doctor said that I was the only one to live," he choked out. He tried to stop but tears began to pour from his deep violet eyes.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry," Anzu took her hand and placed it against his cheek wiping away his tears, "Please don't cry… it pains me to see you cry."

He blinked. Why was she doing this? He could see it clear in her face that she wasn't lying, she really did mean it. But what was the whole purpose? Even she did not know herself…

He took his hands and wiped his salty tears until the last drop. Something about that girl made him felt as if he saw the light in the gash of dark. Some reason she made him more happier despite of his loss. He looked up at her, her face seemed to brighten up again. He gave her a small smile, "Thanks."

"You welcome," Anzu smiled back. "My name is Anzu."

"Yugi," he replied to her. He didn't knew a lot of children but he was aquainted with some of them but compare to her. Her smile seemed more sweeter than the ones he had seen. She seemed nice enough… maybe she wants to be friends, "I-I hope we could be friends."

Timidly he placed his hands, still moist from the tears, on hers. Anzu took her other hand and placed it on his in reassurement of her words, "Me too."

Suddenly to him, and probably to her, the room didn't seem too cold now…

"Anzu!" a voice shouted outside in the hall. Anzu knew instantly who was the owner of that voice. She felt her heart jumped with joy.

"Daddy?" She shouted for him to hear. Her father finally caught the sound of her voice and came into the room.

"Anzu where were you? I thought I lost you! Why weren't you in the playroom like I told you?" Her father said in relief. He noticed that she wasn't alone. He looked at the boy who was with her, "Who is this little boy?"

"He's my friend," Anzu gleamed, "His name is Yugi."

"Hi," Yugi said agitatedly.

"I'm glad you made a friend Anzu," he said. He couldn't be angry with her very long, besides she was only a kid. He knew better, "We have to go home now Anzu, maybe we can visit him sometime whenever we visit mommy ok?"

"How about tomorrow?" Anzu asked.

"Tomorrow sounds fine with me. Come we have to go home," with that her father left to the door. 

"Ok!" Anzu climbed down from the bed and followed him, but before she left she turned back to Yugi who was still there sitting up looking at her. 

"Will you come back?" Yugi ask. 

"I'll come back I promise so don't worry," Anzu said, before she left from his sight she waved good-bye, "Bye!"

"Bye," Yugi murmured. He wasn't worried at all for he knew then that she would keep her promise. In a way it was like a fairytale, in a way it seemed as if it was a start of a beautiful friendship…       

DaWiofFaith: "Finally I got it done! I know I don't update so soon but I do have stuffs to do in real life than writing. Sorry if the story doesn't really seem to smooth out, I don't know much on the whole hospital stuff and what specific stuff they do in there. And I've never been in a hospital for *counting with her fingers* 4-5 years."

ViolinGIlr92: "I'm bored."

Talia: "Aren't we all?"

DaWiofFaith: ………………………………………………………………………… *snore*


	2. Snowy Summit!

**Author's Notes**  
  
I'M SO SORRY! I'M SO VERY VERY SORRY!!! I PUT THE WRONG CHAPTER UP! INSTEAD I PUT UP THE SAME CHAPTER!!! I'm so careless at times. Anyway I'm trying to fast-forward the time so that Anzu and Yugi could be older like when they are in high school in the next chapter so… read and review!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -_-;; I hope I can get to the romance part soon.  
  
  


**Friendship is the First Step- Chapter 2**  
  
"AH! I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL!" The seven year-old boy shouted frantically when he looked at the alarm clock on the night stand near his bed. As soon as you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious he jumped out of his bed and ran to the closet. Changing to his school clothes, and headed to the bathroom tripping on one of his pants that had scattered all over his bedroom along the way. Quickly, he ran down the stairs putting his white shirt on while at the same time he had a toothbrush in his mouth.   
  
"Grandpa, why didn't you wake me up?!" Yugi exclaimed to his grandfather after he finished brushing his teeth. As soon as he got out of the hospital his grandfather took him in after he found out about the death of his daughter and her husband. There was no doubt that Yugi inherited a lot from his father. But the habit of waking up late who knows how he got that habit but it was just an occasional incident that every other kid has done before right? It wasn't the boy's fault that he wanted a couple of Z's.  
  
His grandpa came out of the living room holding a remote control from watching T.V. He looked queerly at the anxious boy running all over the place getting his books and homeworks that he left unfinished cramming it all in his bookbag, "Yugi, what in the world are you-"  
  
"No TIME! GOTTA GO! BYE! JA NE! ADIOS! SAYRONARA! CHAO!" Yugi shouted in a rush to his grandfather as he grabbed his things. He then swung his bookbag over his shoulders as he headed toward the door.  
  
"Ah wait Yugi!" His grandfather tried to stop him before Yugi opened the door but it was too late. Yugi opened the door and ran outside only to encounter face to face with heavy snow falling on him. The fallen snow on the ground reached up to couple of feet or three and since he wasn't very tall on account of he was just only seven years old it reached up to around his neck. Luckily the snow finished falling but he shivered tremendously since he didn't bother to wear his jacket.  
  
"I tried to tell you," His grandpa said looking at the shivering lad at the doorway, "I was watching the news channel, it seems that all the schools are canceled from the snow today."  
  
"I-it's c-c-c-c-co-ld!" Yugi stuttered from the cold. He went back into the game shop; his grandfather gave him a towel to wipe himself now that the snow on him melted into water.   
  
"You better change into something warm," his grandpa suggested. As Yugi dried himself, he thought for a second.  
  
"Grandpa, is it ok if I can go to Anzu's house?" Yugi asked. He knew where Anzu's house was so he could easily go there without trouble. When he was still at the hospital, Anzu did what she had promised and visited him every day whenever her father took her to the hospital to visit her mother. When he was finally released, he nonetheless kept contact with Anzu. Plus they both went to the same elementary school now that he lived with his grandfather. "Maybe Anzu and I could play outside in the snow at the park."  
  
"I don't know…" his grandfather scratched his beard looking outside, "It might be dangerous if it snows outside again, especially on the road since there has been couple of accidents occurring during the blizzard."  
  
"Please?" Yugi pleaded widening his puppy eyes, if that didn't do the trick nothing else will either.  
  
"Well alright, fine but Anzu's parents better watch you both," his grandfather said in caution, "I don't want you to catch a cold."  
  
"Thanks grandpa!!" the little boy shouted cheerily and ran back upstairs. Changing into a more suitable outfit for the weather before he walked to her house.  
  
                                                    ~*~  
  
"Anzu!"  
  
"Huh?" the adolescent girl sat up on her bed, her eyes half opened and her short brown hair was utterly messed up. She gave out a feeble yawn, and went back to sleep thinking she was just hearing things. She laid back in her soft warm bed snuggling herself with her blanket. There was no way in her mind would she want to get out of her bed.   
  
"Anzu! Hey Anzu wake up already!"   
  
"Who said that?" She said looking around her room, obviously no one was there. The voice was actually coming from outside. Anzu got out of her bed and went to her window pushing the drapes to the side of the window and pulled the shutters up. She saw Yugi outside in the snow waving to where her window was. She was excited to see him again; Anzu opened her window despite of the chilly atmosphere outside.   
  
"Hey Yugi! What are you doing here?" Anzu yelled out to him at her window, "You should come inside my house it's cold out!"   
  
"Do you want to play in the snow at the park with me?" he cupped his hands to his mouth so when he shouted to her, she could hear him more clearly, "This might be the last snow storm till next year!"  
  
Anzu whined in a playful fashion, "Yugi I'm tired and it's so freezing outside and the snow is couple of feet high!"  
  
"Oh come on! Don't be lazy now!" He pouted. Knowing Anzu, she would probably play in the snow during the first snowing or so. Then later she would become sluggish and prefer being inside the whole time while the snow melts away. And it's not because she was too old, she was only seven and she should be energetic as he is right now. "This might be the last snow we get before spring! Don't you want to play it for one last time?"  
  
"Hmm… I don't know," Anzu joked with her head on her hand. She enjoyed tagging him along like that. Pretending that she wasn't so fervent about the snow just as he. 

"Please?"

"Ok then, meet me in the living room. I have to go change!"  
  
"Ok!" He said enthusiastically and trudged through the heavy snow he reached to the porch of her house. He walked up to the door and knocked on the door waiting for someone to open the door. Someone did and it was Mr. Masaki himself.  
  
"Hello Yugi," Mr. Masaki greeted seeing the little boy again. Since Yugi and his daughter had been friends for nearly three years being each other's playmate, it was natural for him to kind of welcome him into the family as if he was another member..  
  
"Hi Mr. Masaki!" Yugi smiled cheerfully. "Is it ok for Anzu to play outside at the park with me?"  
  
"I don't see any problem with that, of course she can," Mr. Masaki replied as an answer, "Come inside the house, it's warmer here than it is outside."  
  
"Thanks," He went into the house to the living room where the fireplace was. It was already lit up, the flames crackled. He removed his jacket and scarf on the coat hanger and sat on one of the couches waiting for Anzu who was still upstairs changing into her clothes to play outside in the snow.   
  
"I'm ready Yugi!" Anzu came down the stairs. Jumping down on the last step while adjusting her scarf.   
  
"That was quick, Ok lets go," He got down from the couch and grabbed his coat and scarf and wore it back on him. Anzu went to the closet on the side of the living room and grabbed her sled.   
  
"Will you both be ok?" Coming slowly downstairs was Mrs. Masaki, after couple months of rehabilitation she was able to resume to her normal life. Even though she missed a lot of Anzu's toddler years and all, she was glad she could still make up for it by spending more time with her. On some occasions however there were times when she suddenly fell ill. But she passed it off as a side effect or maybe some subsidiary that would come back to her after her coma couple years ago.   
  
"Don't worry so much," Mr. Masaki assured to his wife, he grabbed his keys to his car, "I'll watched over them at the park so they'll be fine. Besides stress is the least thing you need for that blood pressure of yours."  
  
Mrs. Masaki smiled calmly and went to get her coat, "I'll come just in case."  
  
Yugi and Anzu went out of the house while waiting for her parents; they were busy doing what else but such childish things, common in their age, as they played outside.  
  
Anzu stared at the frozen ice hanging from the windows and the edges around the roofs of the house. She picked one out and looked at the clear pointy ice candidly, "Hey Yugi what do you call this?"  
  
Yugi looked at what she was referring to, "I think they called it an icicle."  
  
"An ice cream?"  
  
"No, an Icicle," he corrected, "Not a Popsicle."  
  
"Can you eat this?" she looked carefully at the object that seemed to begin melt from her warm grasp, "I mean that's probably why they got the work Popsicle from."   
  
"I don't know… I mean it could be poisonous."  
  
"Why would it be poisonous? Its only made from ice," Anzu said in disagreement.   
  
"Well I heard a man got food poisoning from eating sushi made from the poison blowfish."   
  
"What does that have to do with snow?" she asked curiously.  
  
"Uh… actually I don't know," He said scratching his head in wonder why he just said that and received a sweatdrop coming from her, "But he got poison from eating it. I value my life so I don't try to eat anything fishy."  
  
"But you just ate fish yesterday with me at lunch yesterday."  
  
"Its an expression or art-artic-acrticu–la-tion," He tried to pronounce the big word. For a seven year old that was a pretty big vocabulary he had for someone so young.  
  
"Yugi," she groaned, "It's a snow day! I don't want to think of anything that involves with school!"   
  
"Fine," Yugi said crossing his arms, "Its not my fault that you're so lazy in school."  
  
"I'm not lazy! I'm just tired since we have to wake up so early in the morning!" Anzu glared.  
  
Before Yugi could say anything, Anzu's parents came outside. Her father starting the car and her mother came also. "Anzu! Yugi! Get in the car, you both want to go to the park right?"  
  
"Hai!" both of them said at the same time and got into the car.   
  
                                                    ~*~  
  
"CATCH UP TO ME IF YOU CAN YUGI!" Anzu shouted to Yugi behind her as she ran quickly through the snow. Right after they came to the park, her parents watched them occasionally and decided to take a stroll around. Leaving both Yugi and Anzu doing whatever their rascally mind could think of.  
  
"Hey that's not FAIR!" he shouted out as he chased after her, "You took a head start!"  
  
"Nayh nah!" she laughed out loud. "You'll never be able to catch up to me!"   
  
"We'll see who gets the last laugh Anzu Masaki!" He shouted as they ran through the park. The pure white snow that covered the ice on the bottom of the ground seemed to roll like waves of water or undulations of sand dunes. The trees stood dead as they were stripped off of their leaves to this dead like season. A season that appears to represent death in the cycle of life, as each season represented the stages of our lives.   
  
She ran to the forest, passing the trees and kept her balanced as she noticed that the ground was becoming steep down. She controlled herself as she ran making sure she wouldn't fall. However Yugi didn't so he ran faster and was able to catch up to her. As the moment was right he grabbed her pinning her to the ground. Because of the hill being steep, they ended up rolling down together. As soon as they reached to the bottom, Yugi found himself lying on the snow with Anzu on topped of him. She got up and laughed helping Yugi to get up too.  
  
"You won, you finally caught me," she smiled.  
  
"I always win!" He boasted humorously receiving a slight slap on his shoulder.  
  
"Nobody likes a bragger," she teased and pulled Yugi's hat down to cover his eyes.   
  
Yugi pulled the hat off his eyes and placed it back into proper place scratched the back of his head with a laugh. They went back up and grabbed her sled she brought with them and went to the highest hill.  
  
He placed the sled on the ground and had the sled tipped slightly on the edge. He went on the front and Anzu went on the back getting ready to race down the hill.  
  
"Hold on Anzu!" Yugi called out behind him; with his legs he pushed them and the sled down the hill as they raced to the end.   
  
Anzu slipping her hands on his waist hugged tightly as they descended down the huge mount. Feeling the gust of wind blowing at their faces till they finally reached to the end. However the sled didn't stop and they were heading toward a big mount of snow. Piled up by the snow trucks dumping the snow on the road to this certain area.  
  
"Yugi! Make this crazy thing stop!!!"   
  
"I can't!!" He screamed. "I can't steer this thing!!"  
  
Anzu pressed her face to his back ready as they hit the snow pile in an impact. Yugi had half his body covered in snow as he sat up, he looked around for any sight of Anzu but it was no avail.  
  
"ANZU!!" Yugi shouted, "WHERE ARE YOU!??"  
  
"I'm here!" a muffled was heard behind him so he turned, Anzu popped up from the snow. Her legs were dangling out of the snow he realized that she was upside-down as she tried to get out of the snow pile.  
  
They both looked at each other and laughed.  
  
"That was fun!" Anzu giggled.  
  
"I never expected that to happen!"  
  
"Remind me when we're older that I should stay away from you when you learn to drive."  
  
After they got bored with riding the sled Yugi spread his arms and legs lying on the snowy prominence creating a petit snow angel. While the mischievous Anzu gathered up a small amount of snow on the ground and rolled it all up into a small ball. It wasn't something she would call perfect but it was just enough.   
  
As soon as he got up, something hit him in the back causing for him to fall face down to the snow. You could actually see the face print in the pallid snow. He got up to see the little impish perpetrator as she laughed closing her eyes swelling with tears at the snow-covered Yugi.   
  
An evil grin was plastered on his face and he too gathered an amount of snow in to a ball and threw it at her. She stopped laughing and dodged the snow thrown at her. At the same time she rolled and scooped up a chunk of snow and threw it at him back.   
  
"Ah!" As on target it aimed at him right at the chest. He fell down from the impact and sluggishly got up; Anzu crossed her arms in triumph looking at him with a smile.   
  
"Yugi you may be the King of games but I'm the Queen of all snowball fights!"   
  
Now he may not do a lot of snowball fights as usual compare to this young brunette but still he can beat her at her own game. He never lost to a game so he was, of course, the King of Games. He grabbed his scarf on the snowy ground and wrapped it around his neck, "Not when I'm done with you!"  
  
She looked at him with an amused shock, "Yugi is that a challenge I hear? You against me?"  
  
"So? Do you accept?"   
  
Anzu said gleefully as she rolled another snowball and threw it at him, "Bring it on!"  
  
So the Snowball Fight Began!  
  
It seemed to continue endlessly! Ignoring how cold he was becoming Yugi constantly pelted snowballs at her in his newly made snow wall to block her snowballs however his snow wall began to weaken from each of the snowballs she threw. She dodged and darted to a nearby tree to impede the raining snowballs. His third throw managed to hit her barely on the shoulder. She rolled up another ball and threw at him seeing that his snow barricade was no more. He tried to move but one of his feet got caught in a small hole in the ground tripping him and he fell on his butt.  
  
Not willing to pass this advantage she buried her glove-covered hands into the snow and threw it at him again hitting at his spiked head and directly at his face. Furious Yugi grabbed a bundle of snowballs and charged at her, "YOU'RE GONNA GET IT NOW!"  
  
Anzu stopped giggling and gulped seeing him charging at her with snowballs. She turned around and ran away from him as fast as she could, 'Great Anzu you're really gonna get it now!'  
  
Yugi was not going to let her out so easily on this one, he wanted revenge and he was going to get it now. Since he knew where she was heading, unknowing to her, he could slowed down if he wanted. Intending she would soon be at the mercy of his snowballs.   
  
Not knowing his plans, she thought she was finally too fast for him to catch on. Thinking she was reaching to the exit of the park. She instead found herself headed toward a pond, which was frozen into ice. As both her boots touched the icy surface of the pond, she felt herself slipping from the lack of balance and fell flat on her stomach. Her body slid farther from the edge of the pond.  
  
She moaned and rolled on her back. Only to face a certain purpled-eyed boy with grin on his face that practically scared the living daylights out of her. "Y-yugi?"  
  
"Here! You left this!" Yugi planted a snowball right on her face.  
  
They both laughed and continued for hours, not on the icy pond mind you. Their fun did not end for a long time.   
  
Tiredly in the midst of their laughter Yugi fell on his back on the snow. He grabbed Anzu causing her to fall with him. Despite that they were on the ground they still went on with their merriment. They plowed snow at each other until they both were too tired to lift their arms. Footprints and snowball scatterings were all over the park just when it was once freshly untouched.  
  
"So," her laughter began to diminish into suppressed giggles as she continued, "Who won?"  
  
"I guess no one," he said resting on the ground next to her as they looked up at the sky, they both became tired from their fun and just stayed where they were thinking who knows what but they would know. It became sunny so sooner or later the snow would be melting in couple of days or more depending on the further weather.  
  
"Hey Yugi?" She bashfully asked.   
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"H-have you ever thought about what you want to be when you grow up?"  
  
He turned his head slightly to her, "Not really, I haven't thought a lot about it."  
  
"Well I have," she said dreamily. She lay back on the snowy ground with her arms rested behind her head, "When I grow up… I want to study in America and become a dancer. America is a really far away place but it has a great school there. Since I love dancing so much maybe I should put it to use, some people don't get the opportunity to become what they want but I want to be able to."  
  
"That's really great Anzu," Yugi smiled. However he then started to frown after he remembered reading the atlas during history class. Yes America was a far away place… it was overseas. He began to shift anxiously but he didn't want her to notice how perturbed he felt about it. Despite how happy he was for her. It was perceptibly written all over his face and deep in his eyes, "But it's so far away, if you go away what if I don't see you again or worse… what if we forget about each other when we grow up?"  
  
Anzu began to notice his uneasiness about her plan to go to America even though he tried to hide it. She felt guilt coming over her as she realized that if she left she would leave him too, her best friend; despite that it was a dream that she wanted to accomplish. Sure she was just seven and on that age, children, like her, hope to become whatever their greatest imaginations came to be. Like becoming a doctor or an astronaut or anything from their wildest dreams. Who knows if she wanted to change her mind about it or not. But no matter what it was doing something that would hurt him in anyway was the last thing she could ever think of doing.  
  
"Yugi… we've been friends for a long time and nothing is going to ruin it," Anzu slowly sat up and placed her hand on his, "Even if I do want to go I still want your friendship, nothing matters to me more than you… you're like a brother to me."  
  
Yugi smiled knowing that she was sincere of her words. He was of how long they have obtained their friendship for so long and how she felt about him because he too felt the same way. He was like a brother to her and she was like a sister to him. They always look out for each other so… how can such a strong bond they held be broken by something that seemed to be so petty and small.   
  
"…Thanks," Yugi responded steadily and without thought he leaned his head on her shoulder. She didn't react to his action that much so he thought it was ok. He closed his eyes not wanting to move from there. Hearing her steady breathing and feeling the slight warmth of hers regardless of the frosty cold that seemed to withheld on that point. "Anzu?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I'm really glad that I met you back in that hospital years ago, before you came along I felt I was helpless and lost after I found out what had happened to my parents. I felt something shattered inside me but when you came along… I felt like the pieces was mended back into place and became whole again," He said in a small voice but barely a whisper, "If you do still want to be a dancer later when we're older, you don't have to worry about me. I'm happy as long as you're happy and that's all that really matters to me… I mean it's not like we'll never see each other."  
  
"Yeah, besides it's not going to happen to me for a long time I mean we're still little so lets just make the best of what we have," she indicated to him. Then a bright idea suddenly came up to her. "How about we make a pinky promise?"  
  
"A pinky promise?" Yugi lifted his head. "What's that?"  
  
"It's when you make a big promise that you can't break it," she said. "Each of us have to use our pinky and sort of hook it together."  
  
"Ok"  
  
Anzu held up her pinky to him, he looked at her for a while and nodded as he did the same also and entwined his pinky with hers.   
  
"Ok, lets promise that no matter what happens and no matter what obstacles that come in our way, we will always be friends forever," He stated out loud as they shook on it.  
  
"Always friends forever," She said in agreement and that was a promise that both cannot break since was meant so special.  
  
"This is one that I'll never regret promising," Yugi said with a bright smile.  
  
"I love you," Anzu said to him as she hugged him not gripped tightly but like a bear hug. She meant those words with care and honesty. The love that they both expressed to each other wasn't that kind that some had feared or some who wanted later in their life. It wasn't a love of two beings who promise to stay together as one for time without end…no it wasn't. It was a love that can never break between two individuals. Two best friends who share their secrets with each other, and know each other inside out. No… it is not that lustful kind but a love as innocent as a newborn, a love that you give to your family and your friends… it is the purest of all.   
  
"I love you too," Yugi answered back and put his arms around her as they both watched over the snowy hills and the glacial, frosty landscape… a moment that none of them wanted to end for eternity…  
  
A Promise to keep is so special especially if it has a meaning, as it intertwines with the most innocent love of all…  
  
  
  
I'm sorry for not updating all my stories recently, it's not because of writer's block but… something happened and well… *sighs* Anyway I know, I know the whole winter season is over but since I live in the eastern coast of USA we still have winter and because of the blizzard we still have snow now so I can still play outside!!!


End file.
